Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis has slammed Mayor Zohran Mamdani for terminology targeting pro-Israel lobbyists that the diplomat asserted mirrors language used by Nazi Germany.

"The fact that the mayor used the word 'monsters' against AIPAC, as far as I know, and I know the history very well, the Germans used the same words toward the Jewish people in Germany, then in Poland, then in Austria, then in Europe, in France," Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis told Newsweek.

AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee, has been a frequent target of criticism by progressive politicians questioning the extent of Israeli influence in U.S. politics. A number of Israeli and pro-Israel figures in the U.S. have accused the powerful lobby's detractors of antisemitism.

Mamdani has since defended his description of AIPAC as “monsters” who “move millions in dark money to accomplish a single goal—to preserve their power, so that they can turn us against one another" during a June rally in support of progressive New York City candidates—each of whom went on to win their respective races.

“When I am speaking about AIPAC, I’m speaking about an organization that has been supportive of the status quo, that has fought any attempt to actually deliver safety to people, not just in Palestine, but frankly, through much of the region, and it is a status quo for immorality,” Mamdani told a press conference in response to the backlash in June. "It is one that I will not accept."

"And when it comes to the way in which they defend the status quo, oftentimes they defend it through direct contributions, as we are seeing right now in New York-13," he said at the time. "Oftentimes, they also support the status quo through dark money, by filtering money that would have previously been directly from AIPAC now through other shell organizations whose identities of their contributors are only made clear after an election."

Newsweek has reached out to the New York City Mayor's Office for comment.

'Wake Up Now'

Throughout the recent interview with Newsweek, Akunis identified trends in U.S. politics as the issue that worried him most, even more so than the current conflicts with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"The current challenge now, except of course the events in the Middle East is the rise of anti-Semitism in the world, similar to the days before the Second World War, and this is a dangerous situation, not only to the State of Israel but to the Western world, because after they deal with the Jews, they will start with you, and they're already doing it," Akunis said.

"You just need to listen, and I'm asking my American friends, who I admire very much in the American nation—I really am a big admirer of this place—'Wake up before it will be too late.' Wake up now. Wake up," he added. "You don't want the Sharia laws. You don't want their main idea, that they will force their rules on you. You want the freedom of speech. You want the women's rights."

The senior Israeli diplomat also commented on the simultaneous support among progressive circles for LGBTQ+ rights and the Palestinian cause, remarking how "there's no Queers for Palestine in Gaza. There's no queers for Palestine in Judea and Samaria, in the Palestinian Authority territories. By the way, not in Iran, of course. They are executing them."

He accused Mamdani, along with Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, of using Israel as "a platform to spin the social issues, actually, from the real issues."

'Mind Your Own Business!'

"Mind your own business! Find solutions to the terrible traffic issues here. Find solutions to the trash in the streets. Mountains of trash in Midtown. I never saw such a thing," Akunis said. "I started to walk in the streets of New York since the mid 90s, something like that. So, I remember this beautiful city. No trash in the streets. Take the trash from the streets. Don't deal with Israel."

"Who do you think you are? You don't know anything about the Israeli-Arab conflict. Nothing. Zero. You heard it from your parents. Who do you think they are? Your parents. She makes some movies, and his father is a so-called professor. Professor for nothing," he added. "They need to learn about the history of the Israeli Arab conflict and to know that they launched the first massacres 100 years ago, not on October 7th."

Akunis argued that Israel did not need Mamdani's recognition after "thousands of years" of history, accusing him of "fueling" students "with hate."

As for those who demand "free Gaza," Akunis countered by saying that Israel had withdrawn from the territory in 2005, removing settlements as part of a 2005 disengagement plan.

"We ruined synagogues. We ruined beautiful communities. Zero countries in the world did it, except the Jewish state," Akunis said. "Only the Jewish state did it, and we did it to ourselves. So, we did it, and they took it, and they used this territory to attack us 24/7."

"I want to imagine one missile from Jersey City to Manhattan. One missile," he added. "I think that it will take 24 hours to demolish this place. One missile, not hundreds of thousands. One."

Political Winds Changing

Mamdani's rhetoric against Israel has proved divisive within New York City, home to the largest urban Jewish population in the world outside of Israel, as well as the Democratic Party, which has grown increasingly polarized between progressive and centrist cliques.

In a heated election campaign that pitted him against former Governor Andrew Cuomo—known for his outspoken support of Israel—and Republican contender Curtis Sliwa, the 34-year-old democratic socialist emerged with just over 50 percent of the votes to become New York City's first Muslim mayor.

Polls showed that Mamdani secured around 33 percent of Jewish votes, as opposed to Cuomo's 63 percent. Cuomo also drew a number of Republican votes despite his Democratic past.

More recent surveys indicate a diversity of views among Jewish residents of New York City, with 45 percent believing the city is headed in the right direction under Mamdani, according to a Marist poll published in April.

Mamdani has repeatedly emphasized that he sought to represent all New Yorkers, including the city's Jewish community.

Nationwide, Mamdani's popularity among Jewish respondents is at 44 percent, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll published last month. The figure outweighs approval of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the New York City mayor previously threatened to arrest on war crime charges during his upcoming visit for the United Nations General Assembly next month and lags behind at 32 percent.

National opinion toward Israel has also decidedly declined as Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023, along with the U.S.-Israeli war launched against Iran in February of this year, drag on.

A Pew Research Center poll published in July showed that unfavorable views of Israel have risen from 43 percent in 2022 to 62 percent this year. An earlier survey released in March showed confidence in Netanyahu has fallen to 27 percent from 32 percent last year.

The largest drops have occurred among Democratic-leaning respondents, although views among Republicans toward Israel and Netanyahu have also grown more mixed, with some figures formerly aligned with Trump's MAGA movement emerging as major critics.

Akunis argued that the shift in U.S. perceptions of Israel was partially rooted in immigration trends, particularly "the change in and the increased numbers of people who came here from non-democratic places, non-democratic countries, like they actually did, 30-40 years ago, in Europe. It's the same here now, the same situation."

"The people who are preaching to Israel, they don't know anything about democracy," Akunis said. "Most of them immigrated to the United States from non-democratic countries. So, they cannot preach to us about democracy."

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas